urbanMSP

I thought that issue was being resolved soon by having Southwest switch over to Lindberg?

I thought that issue was being resolved soon by having Southwest switch over to Lindberg?

Southwest is not switching to Terminal 1. Spirit moved to 1, leaving Sun Country & Southwest the two main players at Terminal 2. MAC put the 3-gate expansion on "hold" temporarily while Sun Country and its pilots sort out their differences/strike threat. But both airlines are looking to expand at Terminal 2 - meaning they need more gates. Southwest purchasing Sun Country would be very interesting. Although, I've heard conflicting information about Southwest and MSP. Where flight crew stated that they are looking to shrink service here. Which really makes me scratch my head. Either that crew member was ill informed, or I don't have the slightest clue about the airline industry...

We need to get a Southwest non-stop to Dallas to plug into that part of their route network.

This is a good summary of the issues

http://www.skywriteraviation.aero/2015/ ... rs-abound/

DHS Announces Intent to Expand Preclearance to 10 New Airports
http://www.dhs.gov/news/2015/05/29/dhs- ... w-airports
including AMS, LHR, NRT. What does this mean for MSP? Maybe there's not as much need for a new Int'l Arrivals Facility since up to 5 additional flights a day will arrive at a domestic sterile gate rather than needing to process passengers through customs.

I thought that issue was being resolved soon by having Southwest switch over to Lindberg?

Southwest is not switching to Terminal 1. Spirit moved to 1, leaving Sun Country & Southwest the two main players at Terminal 2. MAC put the 3-gate expansion on "hold" temporarily while Sun Country and its pilots sort out their differences/strike threat. But both airlines are looking to expand at Terminal 2 - meaning they need more gates. Southwest purchasing Sun Country would be very interesting. Although, I've heard conflicting information about Southwest and MSP. Where flight crew stated that they are looking to shrink service here. Which really makes me scratch my head. Either that crew member was ill informed, or I don't have the slightest clue about the airline industry...

I can't figure out what Southwest is doing at MSP. Their load factors at MSP are beating their systemwide averages this year and did over half of the months last year. But, they haven't expanded service in nearly two years, outside of some seasonal cities and the AirTran acquired Atlanta and Milwaukee.
Denver, PHX, and Midway do awesome yet some of the other cities' loads are not nearly as good. I'm as confused as you are.

And actually, they eliminated a variety of former AirTran leisure destinations in Florida. TPA, MCO, and maybe RSW if I recall correctly.

And actually, they eliminated a variety of former AirTran leisure destinations in Florida. TPA, MCO, and maybe RSW if I recall correctly.

Southwest flies those cities seasonally. I flew them to Tampa back in March...completely full.

Key West is one city Southwest eliminated entirely.

I don't see direct service to LUV happening. I don't see them moving to DFW after all the stink they made after all these years about being able to remain at LUV, but the gate situation is really a limiting factor about where they can go, and they can't legally add any gates.

Having recently flown through the new Love, my impression is that Southwest is massively underusing that facility compared to how quickly they turn flights through Midway, or even MSP.

According to Southwest, they fully utilize gates at DAL. Speculation, however, is they are not fully utilizing yet and this allows them to keep Virgin and/or Delta out of "their" gates.

I still can't understand what they are attempting to do at MSP when they haven't even added to places such as DAL, HOU, BNA, or BWI, for example.

I thought that issue was being resolved soon by having Southwest switch over to Lindberg?

Southwest is not switching to Terminal 1. Spirit moved to 1, leaving Sun Country & Southwest the two main players at Terminal 2. MAC put the 3-gate expansion on "hold" temporarily while Sun Country and its pilots sort out their differences/strike threat. But both airlines are looking to expand at Terminal 2 - meaning they need more gates. Southwest purchasing Sun Country would be very interesting. Although, I've heard conflicting information about Southwest and MSP. Where flight crew stated that they are looking to shrink service here. Which really makes me scratch my head. Either that crew member was ill informed, or I don't have the slightest clue about the airline industry...

Thanks.

What about Terminal 1's expansion -- the major expansion project that would add yet-another parking ramp, extend concourse G, and add a significant # of gates that appear to be for international flights? Here's an article that touches on that expansion, with an image of the proposed expansion:

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/p ... t-rfp.html

What's the status on this?

As I posted above, I hope that need will be analyzed given that AMS, LHR, and NRT may have preclearance.

Landside: Yes, we need more space. Not sure how they can split it int'l (new southern loop landside) and domestic (existing west loop landside). We could always do what ATL's Domestic Terminal and other hubs have done, one half for the hub carrier and one half for all other carriers. Though, that doesn't apply if T1 becomes all Delta/SkyTeam in which case the split would be even tougher.

Airside: G concourse extension and A/B reconfiguration incrementally.

Immigration / Customs: Revisit the need for a new space if AMS / LHR / NRT get security preclearance.

As I posted above, I hope that need will be analyzed given that AMS, LHR, and NRT may have preclearance.

This is not the forum for a full discussion (go to airliners.net or flyertalk) but preclearance is a dubious idea for the airlines, at LHR particularly (multiple, poorly connected terminals).

It'll be interesting to see if this goes ahead.

Discussion of the issues here is good: http://blog.wandr.me/2015/06/the-latest ... an-losers/

Just a heads up Condor started nonstop to Frankfurt. They used a B767. First flight I saw was yesterday in the evening. Very fun to see Air France A340, Condor B767, and Iceland Air B757 all at the same time!

The B767 and B757 parked right next to each other at T2.

Got a few good laughs out of this:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... tewart-lee

Had my first experience with the Skyway Security Checkpoint (Checkpoint 10) when flying back east last week. Because of lengthy lines at the security gates inside the Lindbergh Terminal (which it will always be known as to me), TSA staff were actually encouraging passengers to take the tram back to the parking garage and head up to checkpoint 10.

And it worked pretty well. By my estimation, if the main security gate lines are at least 15-20 minutes long, and Checkpoint 10 is open, it's worth the backtracking, especially if you've already checked your bags (or don't have any checked bags at all) and you have your boarding passes in hand. The skyway brings you out near gates G17 or C12, so it works REALLY well if your gate is on the A, B, C, or G concourses....less so for D, E, and F, though on the C side, there's an inter-concourse tram that runs from Concourse A, along C, to near where C meets D.

I wasn't sure that was even open anymore. I tried to use it back in November around 5pm and it had "closed" signs on it.

Hours:

http://mymspconnect.com/news/201403/new ... ckpoint-10

Hours:

http://mymspconnect.com/news/201403/new ... ckpoint-10

Well there ya go. Thanks.